Bickerton foldable mini-bike (photo)

Completed this the other day.
Everything excellent except for both fenders,
but hey.

It says Bickerton is in England on a big
sticker on the frame.

But the hub is the familiar Torpedo 3. Well, is
has a chainwheel which is smaller than on big
bikes. But I suppose everything is German,
still. When I put the smaller chainwheel there,
there is a ring to be removed. It isn't
difficult to remove, but I nevertheless
deformed a small screwdriver (the ones for
doing electronic) to muscle it out. I don't
know what you are supposed to use?

Also, what does it mean that the crank
chainwheel is so BIG, and the hub ditto is so
small, and the wheel is small as well?

Also, all the bolts are of a quick release
version. However they don't stick hard enough
even when pulled the hardest. Especially not
the one holding the handlebars as that is so
long! So I pulled some bolts with regular tools
on the other side as well. I'm unsure exactly
what that means to the quick release? The bolts
seem metric, by the way. Is this also normal
for an English bike to not have imperial to
ease exporting the bike or something like that?

The fittings to seal the bike after being
unfolded don't give a lot of confidence but
seems to be in its original shape.

And, what do you charge for this kind of bike?
Do you charge more because it is a rare/funky
item or do you charge the same hoping anyone
will still buy it?

Photo:

http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573/bike/bickerton.jpg

--
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

On 5/4/2017 7:27 PM, Emanuel Berg wrote:
Completed this the other day.
Everything excellent except for both fenders,
but hey.

It says Bickerton is in England on a big
sticker on the frame.

But the hub is the familiar Torpedo 3. Well, is
has a chainwheel which is smaller than on big
bikes. But I suppose everything is German,
still. When I put the smaller chainwheel there,
there is a ring to be removed. It isn't
difficult to remove, but I nevertheless
deformed a small screwdriver (the ones for
doing electronic) to muscle it out. I don't
know what you are supposed to use?

Also, what does it mean that the crank
chainwheel is so BIG, and the hub ditto is so
small, and the wheel is small as well?

Also, all the bolts are of a quick release
version. However they don't stick hard enough
even when pulled the hardest. Especially not
the one holding the handlebars as that is so
long! So I pulled some bolts with regular tools
on the other side as well. I'm unsure exactly
what that means to the quick release? The bolts
seem metric, by the way. Is this also normal
for an English bike to not have imperial to
ease exporting the bike or something like that?

The fittings to seal the bike after being
unfolded don't give a lot of confidence but
seems to be in its original shape.

And, what do you charge for this kind of bike?
Do you charge more because it is a rare/funky
item or do you charge the same hoping anyone
will still buy it?

Photo:

http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573/bike/bickerton.jpg


gearing
Since gear development is chainring/ sprocket * wheel, and
since your wheel is small, the chainring should be larger
and/or the driven sprocket smaller to gear like a full size
wheel bicycle.

QR
Oil the cams of the quick releases.

That series of Bickerton (1979? 1980?) is fairly light but
very flexible. have you ridden it yet?

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On 5/4/2017 8:27 PM, Emanuel Berg wrote:
Completed this the other day.
Everything excellent except for both fenders,
but hey.

It says Bickerton is in England on a big
sticker on the frame.

But the hub is the familiar Torpedo 3. Well, is
has a chainwheel which is smaller than on big
bikes. But I suppose everything is German,
still. When I put the smaller chainwheel there,
there is a ring to be removed. It isn't
difficult to remove, but I nevertheless
deformed a small screwdriver (the ones for
doing electronic) to muscle it out. I don't
know what you are supposed to use?

Also, what does it mean that the crank
chainwheel is so BIG, and the hub ditto is so
small, and the wheel is small as well?

Also, all the bolts are of a quick release
version. However they don't stick hard enough
even when pulled the hardest. Especially not
the one holding the handlebars as that is so
long! So I pulled some bolts with regular tools
on the other side as well. I'm unsure exactly
what that means to the quick release? The bolts
seem metric, by the way. Is this also normal
for an English bike to not have imperial to
ease exporting the bike or something like that?

The fittings to seal the bike after being
unfolded don't give a lot of confidence but
seems to be in its original shape.

And, what do you charge for this kind of bike?
Do you charge more because it is a rare/funky
item or do you charge the same hoping anyone
will still buy it?

Photo:

http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573/bike/bickerton.jpg

I hadn't heard about one of those for many years. IIRC, they were not
pleasant to ride, largely because they were incredibly flexible.

It seems the company (or at least the name) still exists, but the
current designs are completely different.

Regarding value, there's this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262148193860?ul_noapp=true


--
- Frank Krygowski

On Thursday, May 4, 2017 at 5:35:44 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 5/4/2017 7:27 PM, Emanuel Berg wrote:
Completed this the other day.
Everything excellent except for both fenders,
but hey.

It says Bickerton is in England on a big
sticker on the frame.

But the hub is the familiar Torpedo 3. Well, is
has a chainwheel which is smaller than on big
bikes. But I suppose everything is German,
still. When I put the smaller chainwheel there,
there is a ring to be removed. It isn't
difficult to remove, but I nevertheless
deformed a small screwdriver (the ones for
doing electronic) to muscle it out. I don't
know what you are supposed to use?

Also, what does it mean that the crank
chainwheel is so BIG, and the hub ditto is so
small, and the wheel is small as well?

Also, all the bolts are of a quick release
version. However they don't stick hard enough
even when pulled the hardest. Especially not
the one holding the handlebars as that is so
long! So I pulled some bolts with regular tools
on the other side as well. I'm unsure exactly
what that means to the quick release? The bolts
seem metric, by the way. Is this also normal
for an English bike to not have imperial to
ease exporting the bike or something like that?

The fittings to seal the bike after being
unfolded don't give a lot of confidence but
seems to be in its original shape.

And, what do you charge for this kind of bike?
Do you charge more because it is a rare/funky
item or do you charge the same hoping anyone
will still buy it?

Photo:

http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573/bike/bickerton.jpg


gearing
Since gear development is chainring/ sprocket * wheel, and
since your wheel is small, the chainring should be larger
and/or the driven sprocket smaller to gear like a full size
wheel bicycle.

QR
Oil the cams of the quick releases.

That series of Bickerton (1979? 1980?) is fairly light but
very flexible. have you ridden it yet?

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

And using a normal bicycle chain you cannot get smaller than an 11 tooth rear cog and that is really too small to work efficiently. 12 should be the smallest considered and 13 better. But these require a 53 to drive sufficiently fast if you have long downhills on good road surfaces.

On Thursday, May 4, 2017 at 6:50:56 PM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 5/4/2017 8:27 PM, Emanuel Berg wrote:
Completed this the other day.
Everything excellent except for both fenders,
but hey.

It says Bickerton is in England on a big
sticker on the frame.

But the hub is the familiar Torpedo 3. Well, is
has a chainwheel which is smaller than on big
bikes. But I suppose everything is German,
still. When I put the smaller chainwheel there,
there is a ring to be removed. It isn't
difficult to remove, but I nevertheless
deformed a small screwdriver (the ones for
doing electronic) to muscle it out. I don't
know what you are supposed to use?

Also, what does it mean that the crank
chainwheel is so BIG, and the hub ditto is so
small, and the wheel is small as well?

Also, all the bolts are of a quick release
version. However they don't stick hard enough
even when pulled the hardest. Especially not
the one holding the handlebars as that is so
long! So I pulled some bolts with regular tools
on the other side as well. I'm unsure exactly
what that means to the quick release? The bolts
seem metric, by the way. Is this also normal
for an English bike to not have imperial to
ease exporting the bike or something like that?

The fittings to seal the bike after being
unfolded don't give a lot of confidence but
seems to be in its original shape.

And, what do you charge for this kind of bike?
Do you charge more because it is a rare/funky
item or do you charge the same hoping anyone
will still buy it?

Photo:

http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573/bike/bickerton.jpg

I hadn't heard about one of those for many years. IIRC, they were not
pleasant to ride, largely because they were incredibly flexible.

It seems the company (or at least the name) still exists, but the
current designs are completely different.

Regarding value, there's this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262148193860?ul_noapp=true


--
- Frank Krygowski

Handlebars of that nature are extremely dangerous for anything other than extremely moderate speeds.

And using a normal bicycle chain you cannot
get smaller than an 11 tooth rear cog and
that is really too small to work efficiently.
12 should be the smallest considered and 13
better. But these require a 53 to drive
sufficiently fast if you have long downhills
on good road surfaces.

Man, it is really tedious to count with the
chain and chainguard on!

But the sprocket seems to be 14 tooth and the
chainring 53, as you say.

The chain is a normal bicycle chain,
Shimano 1S 114L (originally), bolted.

One cool thing is this chain has a pale,
tin-like color. This matches with the grayish
silver of the bike

--
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

On 5/5/2017 7:54 PM, Emanuel Berg wrote:
And using a normal bicycle chain you cannot
get smaller than an 11 tooth rear cog and
that is really too small to work efficiently.
12 should be the smallest considered and 13
better. But these require a 53 to drive
sufficiently fast if you have long downhills
on good road surfaces.

Man, it is really tedious to count with the
chain and chainguard on!

But the sprocket seems to be 14 tooth and the
chainring 53, as you say.

The chain is a normal bicycle chain,
Shimano 1S 114L (originally), bolted.

One cool thing is this chain has a pale,
tin-like color. This matches with the grayish
silver of the bike


52x14 on a 20" is something around 6.1 meters or 75 inches,
a nice urban gearing.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

AMuzi wrote:

That series of Bickerton (1979? 1980?) is
fairly light but very flexible. have you
ridden it yet?

Now I have tried it! It is as you say very
light to carry.

On the saddle it feels very weak and rickety.

The front and back parts aren't possible to
lock with any confidence. You feel them changing
position when you sit down. I'm unsure if this
is due to design, wear, or both.

Another problem is that when you make a turn,
sometimes the pedals hit the ground as they are
so close to begin with.

Well, if no one wants to buy it I can always
hang it somewhere as decoration. Thing is with
rare/funky items, they are almost always dirty,
and without anything, and/or nothing works.
People always get disappointed by that after
the initial surge of enthusiasm for seeing
something odd. Here, it is the other
way around. But is it a good bike? No.

I've heard of good mini-bikes tho. Milton,
right? Also English IIRC. So what is the thing
with England and mini-bikes?

--
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

AMuzi wrote:

52x14 on a 20" is something around 6.1 meters
or 75 inches, a nice urban gearing.

You got the 75 inches like this?

echo $(( 52/14.0 * 20 ))
74.285714285714292

It seems tho that

$ units "$(( 52/14.0 * 20 )) inches" m
1.8868571

so ~1.9 meters?

And yes, to this bike's credit it DID feel good
pedaling, so mucking with the
sprocket/chainring sizes sure had the
desired effect!

--
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

On Sat, 06 May 2017 03:51:15 +0200, Emanuel Berg
wrote:
AMuzi wrote:

That series of Bickerton (1979? 1980?) is fairly light but very
flexible. have you ridden it yet?

Now I have tried it! It is as you say very light to carry.

On the saddle it feels very weak and rickety.

The front and back parts aren't possible to lock with any confidence.
You feel them changing position when you sit down. I'm unsure if this
is due to design, wear, or both.

Another problem is that when you make a turn, sometimes the pedals hit
the ground as they are so close to begin with.

Well, if no one wants to buy it I can always hang it somewhere as
decoration. Thing is with rare/funky items, they are almost always
dirty, and without anything, and/or nothing works. People always get
disappointed by that after the initial surge of enthusiasm for seeing
something odd. Here, it is the other way around. But is it a good
bike? No.

Well, you have identified the salient points of the Bickerton quite
well. It is a unique little cul-de-sac of bicycle development- quirky
in its looks and quirkier in its performance.

I've heard of good mini-bikes tho. Milton, right? Also English IIRC.
So what is the thing with England and mini-bikes?

The Moulton bicycle is a small wheeled bike developed in the early 60s
by Alex Moulton. Lots and lots of history online about that.